


Sous Vide

by FoxtrotFannibal



Category: Hannibal (TV) RPF, Hannibal Extended Universe - Fandom
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, RPF, Romance, Sex, Slow Burn, some kink
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-01-26 07:04:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12551852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoxtrotFannibal/pseuds/FoxtrotFannibal
Summary: Aaron Abrams is working on Season Four of Hannibal with the rest of the cast and crew when he meets one of the chefs working with Janice, Izzy Fox. Hilarity ensues as everyone seems to want to get involved. This is a cute, fluffy, slow burn with some eventual smut.





	1. Changes of Scenery

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know Aaron Abrams, I don't own his character or anything. This is a pure work of fiction. Some research from Twitter and Instagram, but mostly things I made up. My original characters are my own.

Isabella Fox had just gotten home after working a 70-hour work week only to be welcomed by the sound of her best friend and roommate digging through their fridge.

“Hey, what leftovers do you have?” was the only response Valarie could give at seeing her notably exhausted friend Izzy walking into the kitchen.

Tying an apron around her waist and shooing her friend out of the kitchen Izzy lazily replied, “None, Valarie, it’s Monday. I eat trash after work and then cook to rejuvenate the spirit that made me want to start cooking.”

“Good thing I planned ahead and brought some snacks.”

Swiping a chip from Valarie, Isabella began to chop vegetables tossing them onto a baking sheet.

“I’m pretty sure the only thing in your medic pants are snacks.” Stopping herself, hoping to word her next question well she continued, “Considering our lease is up soon, what are we going to do?”

Smiling a little Valarie leaned over the counter with her right hand splayed out towards Isabella; the ring finger of her right hand adorned with a shining diamond engagement ring.

Isabella stared at the ring for a moment, taken aback at the subtle way her friend chose to share this news. She hoped that the news that she had to share could have a similar subtlety in its delivery.

“So, Phil proposed? And from the look of the rock candy on your hand, you said yes! That’s amazing and wonderful and honestly about damn time.”

Valarie and Phil had been obsessed with one another for years before finally dating and apparently getting engaged after mere months.

Fearful that her friend would be hurt by her radical news Valarie whispered, “Izzy, things between us won’t change. If you want I can ask Phil if he wants to move in with us so we can just renew our lease.”

Izzy knew that her friend desperately wanted to move in with Phil when he was just a boyfriend, but now he was her fiancé? She couldn’t keep her best friend from happiness.

Slightly aggravated by her friend’s suggestion, but offering an expression of mock anger,

“Val, I’m not going to renew this fucking lease. You can’t marry Phil without having lived with him. That’s how a ton of marriages fail. I’m a big girl, I used to live alone without you and maybe your engagement is the push I need to start taking some chances.”

“Oh, thank God!” replied the Valarie happy that her friend wasn’t heartbroken buy her big news. “wait, what chances?”

“Well, I was waiting to tell you once I actually get through the in-person interview…. But do you remember that cool show that was on NBC like 7 years ago, Hannibal?”

Flashbacks of their college dorms suddenly plagued Valarie,  
“How could I fucking forget. You had a poster of Hannibal holding a fork in our dorm room that scared the hell out of me when I caught the reflection in the mirror. I’m still convinced that the fucking poster is the reason I pissed my shorts that time I passed out on the floor.”

Izzy laughed,  
“I think you were just fucked up but whatever. You were the one who decided that going shot to shot with one of the pharmacy kids would be a bright idea. Those kids are walking stress induced alcoholics, but that’s beside the point, I mention our dear buddy Hannibal because I applied to work on the renewal of the show on Janice Poon’s catering team.”

Izzy smiled, hoping that her friend could share in her excitement. Valarie smiled back,  
“You know what? Together we make a shittier version of Hannibal. I’m a paramedic, you’re like a doctorate of food or something. All we need is money and we’re him.”

She carried on smiling while absent-mindedly eating chips,  
“Honestly though, I hate to be that person, but do you really think a line cook from Naptown can actually land a job with one of the most famous food artists?”

Izzy looked at her friend,  
“Kinda bitchy but fair. I’m not really just a line cook, I’m a sous chef. I figure that with my culinary arts training, and sous chef and head of catering experience that I might have a solid chance. Oh and yeah, I figure this may be the one job where my philosophy degree isn’t a total joke because Hannibal uses a lot of philosophical metaphors. Oh, and I’m Cuban and the new season partially takes place there.”

Val looked at Izzy full of self-satisfaction,  
“Well then. You’ve never been the type of person to take criticism with complacency, so what the hell, who am I to stop you. I will say though; your parents are going to be so pissed if you don’t make it to Thanksgiving. I won’t save your ass if I’m there and you aren’t.”

“You only come to my Thanksgiving because it’s in Florida.”

She said, thinking of her beach bum parents before continuing,  
“I have the interview set up for Thursday, I’m basically flying out, pit-stopping at the hotel for sanity and then heading straight to my interview.”

With fake shock lacing her tone Val replied,  
“You had all of this planned and I’m just finding out now?”

Izzy rolled her eyes,  
“Consider this, you work as a fucking paramedic and work shifts that are longer than mine.”

“Aha, now who’s being a bitch!” She exclaimed before pondering,“You know what would be really funny? If you ended up dating one of the cast members. Didn’t you have a crush on one of them? I remember that twitchy guy, Will, getting pretty cute by season three.”

Izzy couldn’t help but be surprised  
“I think most of the cast members are married, but I don’t think any of them would necessarily have a thing for me.”

Valarie ate a final chip,  
“You never know!”

 

The sunlight breached the curtains of his L.A. apartment interrupting Aaron’s fitful sleep before his alarm could do the honors. He was stressed, to say the least, considering that for the first time in a long while he didn’t have an immediate project lined up now his current one was all wrapped up.  
His recurring role on Blindspot had come to an end when his character, U.S. Attorney Matthew Weitz, was impaled on a pipe during an explosion at the FBI headquarters. The special effects were a blast, but having to figure out what to do next was extremely stressful.

He eyed himself in the bathroom mirror wondering how his meeting with Bryan Fuller would go today. His long-time friend had been doing wonderfully and said he had great news to share with him. He saw a few articles tossing around the idea that Hannibal could be returning, but Aaron couldn’t help but be skeptical. He feared that the fandom wouldn’t be so willing to pick the show back up either so soon or so easily.

He sighed and proceeded to get ready for his breakfast meeting with Bryan. Who the hell had meetings during breakfast? Lunch sure, dinner of course, but waking up early just wasn’t something that Aaron necessarily subscribed to. Checking his phone he hoped that the café Bryan insisted on meeting in was actually within walking distance. Pleasantly surprised, it was both nearby and actually affordable, a commodity Los Angeles rarely offered.

Aaron walked into the café hoping to spot Bryan before the latter spotted him, but was just barely too late.

At seeing his friend, Bryan jumped from his seat, then almost knocking over a waiter he embraced Aaron.

Without letting go, Bryan proceeded to share his excitement.

“Hey, how’ve you been? I’m so happy you could make it. I know you hate getting up in the morning.”

“Yeah, it’s great to be able to meet with you,” replied Aaron just barely escaping Bryan’s hug as they sat down,

“I’m glad you remember that I’m not really into the whole morning thing. So, what’s new with you?”

“So much!”, Bryan was notably excited, “I have such amazing news! American Gods is doing so well on Starz that Amazon decided that it would be good to pick up some of my old shows. I wanted to be the one to tell you… and I really hope Scott or anyone else didn’t tell you already!”

“I haven’t really talked to Scott or anyone else from Hannibal much since the last FannibalFest.” Interest piqued, Aaron continued,

“What’s your news?”

“Hannibal is coming back! We have an amazing new series arc and a lot more money than we did before. The murders are going to be more gruesome, You and Scott will play a much bigger role in these new seasons, and we got the rights to Clarice! This season is going to have us traveling all over the US and to Cuba hunting down Will and Hannibal.”  
Aaron was extremely surprised to see how well all the plans had gone for Bryan. The DeLaurentiis Company must have done a great job negotiating with the different networks for all the Hannibal rights. Aaron was surprised to see the gift-wrapped opportunity to reprise his role as Brian Zeller.

“Bryan, I’m definitely into filming more Hannibal. When do you think that filming will start again?”

“Well, now that I know you’re onboard and willing to get back into it, Scott and I were hoping to fly out to Toronto by next week because Janice and some of the other crew members are working stuff out. Would next week work for you?”

“It’s perfect. I’m really excited to see and work with everyone again”

“Awesome! We should order though because this level of enthusiasm and excitement is specifically fueled by caffeine.”

Bryan grinned as he waved to the waiter to come back for their order.

 

Rushing through the airport Izzy was softly chanting, “Oh fuck, oh shit, oh Christ on a cracker”. Her flight would be leaving soon and she was incredibly stressed. Indianapolis was full of people trying to do the same thing she wanted to do, leave. She glanced at her boarding pass when the horrible realization that she would be stuck in a middle seat dawned upon her.

She boarded the plane with dread. Izzy wasn’t fond of middle seats. She preferred being shoved towards the side of the plane in a window seat than risk making two people uncomfortable at once.

After a few hours of reading and trying not to lean on either of the people next to her, Izzy was more than ready to hop off the plane and start preparing for her interview.

After taking a bus towards her hotel and checking in, Izzy threw herself onto the bed. She began to contemplate the pros and cons of her potential career opportunity. She had landed her interview, which had to be some sort of sign, and she had glowing reviews from her current job. It would be endlessly exciting to learn about food styling opportunities and maybe even the chance to have some input on some of the Cuban cuisine. The only negative to this interview would be the money spent on travel and accommodation.

Izzy stared at herself in the mirror. She was always very critical of herself. She had more of a round face, plain brown eyes, and the kind of dark brown hair that never seemed to behave. She tried to get herself back together. She prepared for her interview, steadying her breaths and hoping for the best.

 

Janice had been working hard at building her new team. She had been in constant touch with Bryan, other producers, and some of the writers. This season would involve much more food, travel, and would offer her more control over the catering on set.

Janice had originally planned on hiring six more people, but a day of stressful interviews had her second-guessing the number of people she would actually add to her team. It was no surprise that not everyone in the culinary industry was all the way there, but the back to back crazy interviews were starting to wear her down. There was one more interview left and she desperately hoped the candidate would be normal.

Janice took a breath to reconstruct her interviewing mask and went to meet her last candidate.

Walking in and repeating her heavily rehearsed line, Janice sighed “Hi, you must be Ms. Isabella Fox, I’m Janice Poon it’s lovely to meet you!”

“Hello Ms. Poon, thank you very much for taking the time to interview me today.”

Janice smiled and indicated a seat, Izzy sank into it gratefully as Janice sat down opposite her,  
“Please, call me Janice. So, I see here on your resume that you have a very eclectic educational background. You must be aware that it is uncommon to see chefs with both a private liberal arts education and community college culinary school education.”

Izzy smiled back,  
“Yes, well, when I first went to college I was on a full-tuition scholarship and I was actually trying to be an accounting major. That didn’t go so well for me, so I thought of being a lawyer. After studying abroad and being unable to cook anything due to a lack of kitchen, I realized that my recurring but repressed passion in life was cooking. I graduated early and headed to culinary school, which I loved very much.”

“Interesting. You have all of your work experience spread out throughout Indiana. A steakhouse, catering, and a food truck?”  
Janice found Izzy interesting, to say the least, but didn’t want to let her hopes get too high.

“I’ve worked at the steakhouse ever since I graduated and realized that experience was an important asset to have, but I was curious about other industries, so I convinced the restaurant I worked with to get into catering. They threw the job of head caterer to me and after that succeeded they thought having a food truck would be a good idea. It was not, our food truck failed within the first year because people were afraid to get a steak from a truck.”

Janice found Isabella’s enthusiasm and honesty encouraging. She was definitely considering hiring her.  
“Ms. Fox, on your resume, it says that you are bilingual, what languages do you speak?”  
“I am fluent in Spanish and English, which I learned at the same time. I actually joke that I’m equally bad at both.” Izzy smiled again and hoped that the interview was going well. Maybe Janice was this nice to everyone?

Janice smiled slightly and once again mulled over all of her candidates.  
“Ms. Fox, why do you want to work on this team?”

“I truly enjoy working on the catering team for the restaurant, but I don’t get to play around with presentation a lot because it tends to intimidate some of the guests. I feel like this show could help me learn more food styling techniques as well as helping me expand the type of cuisine that I make.”

Janice considered Izzy. She truly felt that she had the right enthusiasm and attitude to work with the other chosen candidates. They were an eclectic mix, but had a genuine love of food and could offer great new perspective on dishes. She’d decided.

“Well Ms. Fox, congratulations, welcome to the Feeding Hannibal team.”

Izzy was awestruck. She felt breathless and overwhelmed by the news.  
“Oh wow, Thank you so much, Janice. I really appreciate this! I’m so excited to learn and develop into a better chef. I won’t let you down”

 

Izzy returned to Indiana and couldn’t wait to share the news. Valarie took it well, hoping her friend would manage with all the traveling around. They packed up the apartment together and despite it being a temporary goodbye, they hoped the best for one another and hugged their farewells  
That same week Aaron, Scott, and Bryan flew out to Toronto to meet with the rest of the cast and crew. Bryan rubbed his hands, this was sure to be a great season.


	2. First Encounters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaron and Izzy run into one another! Everyone has an opinion!

Izzy felt an overwhelming sense of anxiety as she stared out at the bustling kitchen. She had worked in restaurants, but she felt incredibly out of place among the other chefs. Janice hadn’t lied to her when she said that the staff was eclectic. Izzy realized that she was not only one of the youngest team members, but also one of the shortest. While this typically wouldn’t bother Izzy, she couldn’t help but feel inadequate in comparison to the taller, more experienced chefs. Overcoming her nerves, Izzy quickly fell into place within the kitchen. Janice was a wonderful leader and knew exactly what she wanted from everyone. In addition to being one of the kindest chefs Izzy worked with, Janice had an innate understanding of everyone on the team. She knew when she had pushed a chef too far and knew exactly what to do to keep them on board. There were three main teams that cycled through the three main aspects of working for the Hannibal team. One team made sure the snack table was well stocked and would fall into prep for meals, another team planned the big meals for the cast and crew, and another group was tasked with helping Janice out with styling the food. Everyone rotated in order to be well versed in all aspects of working for Janice.

Aaron arrived on set excited to see the rest of the cast and crew. He, Scott, and Bryan had flown into Toronto together and had already bounced ideas off one another. Zeller and Price were going to have a much larger role in the new seasons of Hannibal. Jack, Brian, and Jimmy were leading the hunt for Will and Hannibal and would be traveling across the U.S. and eventually into Cuba following hints that Will had been leaving them. Aaron was surprised to learn that his character would have such a larger role in the seasons to come but also felt that it would make the most sense considering the way the last season had ended. Mads and Hugh had not come to set yet because they were wrapping up other projects, but also because they weren’t needed yet. He looked out to the variety of tents, trailers, and the variety of cast and crew scurrying around set. It would be a good season.

Izzy was grateful that one of her first assignments was working directly with Janice, but she was also incredibly nervous. Janice had decided to recreate Hannibal’s roasted leg in clay for everyone to find as confirmation that they were on the right track. Unfortunately, sculpting was not Izzy’s forte. She looked up in frustration after once again being unable to shape the clay correctly, when she got distracted by Aaron Abrams. He had just finished an intense scene where Brian defends Jimmy from a frustrated Jack Crawford and had flawlessly morphed back into Aaron and had been laughing at something Scott had said. Izzy hadn’t been aware of the fact she was staring, she was just in awe of his blue eyes and how handsome she still found him. She always found him very attractive, but seeing him again in person Aaron caught Izzy’s appreciative gaze and winked at her. A blush quickly crept up her face and she looked down to focus more intently on the clay flowers. Unbeknownst to Izzy, Janice had caught the entire exchange but opted to file that information away for a later date.  

Aaron hadn’t actually noticed the staring until Scott had less than subtlety pointed it out. He didn’t know that there was any new crew on set. He assumed that they had gotten everyone from the previous season to come back, so when Scott made the joke that Aaron should avoid corrupting Janice’s new staff Aaron was surprised to see a very pretty girl looking in his direction. Caught off guard by the not unwelcome attention, he decided that winking at the girl would have to be enough for the moment. He did not expect the adorable blush that had lit up her face. He didn’t know her, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to know her.  

 

The cast and crew all stayed in the same building that the production team had rented out. Izzy shared her apartment with some of the make-up artists and some of the chefs. Her roommate was luckily a part of the make-up team. It wasn’t that Izzy didn’t love her coworkers, but distance did make the heart grow fonder.  Her roommate, Jess, was one of the make-up artists that had been assigned to the crew. Filming had officially started that day and Izzy was excited to see who Jess had been assigned to.

“Hey little Fox, how was your first day in the kitchens?”

“It was pretty standard. I actually got assigned to work with Janice first, which was awesome except I think I hate clay more now than ever before.”

Jess laughed at her flustered roommate, “I thought you had some experience as a pastry chef?”

“I do, I’m awesome at desserts and stuff, but my younger sister was more of the family artist. How was your day? I know they started filming today.”  
“Yeah! You’ll never guess who I got assigned to!”

“Oh, my goodness, did you get your crush, Katherine Isabelle?”, Izzy had known that Jess was basically in love with the actress and genuinely hoped she had gotten the luck of the draw.

Jess sighed and faked despair, “Tragically not, I will not be working directly near my imaginary wife, but I am working with someone I kind of ship you with!”

“Who is lame enough for you to ship with me of all people?.”

Jess rolled her eyes at her roommate and smugly responded, “I’m working with Aaron Abrams!”

Izzy’s face betrayed her at the mention of his name. Her cheeks covered in a quick and rosy blush. Izzy’s silence did not go unnoticed by Jess.

“Oh my god! Are you blushing? Did I hit the nail on the head?” She paused to appreciate her handiwork, “I guess I’m Venus, Goddess of Love because I knew from the minute I met him that he’d be just the right amount of awkward dork for you!”

“I don’t think he’s awkward.” Izzy stuttered out, still getting over the embarrassment of having blushed like a school girl in front of her roommate.

“I stalked him on Twitter before I met him and no guy that has a podcast about Columbo could be anything but an awkward dork.”

Izzy recounted the tale of having been caught staring at Aaron while working with Janice. Jess laughed at her adorable roommate, before revealing that Janice had told everyone. Jess congratulated Izzy on being the first bit of gossip to hit the set.   
“Jess, what am I gonna do? He’s an actor and I’m just crew. He’s a really well-known actor now thanks to getting that bit working as Galen Erso’s right-hand man in the Star Wars prequels.”

“Yeah, I forgot he was in the prequel’s prequel. I don’t think it should matter. He’s the same guy I worked around last season.”

“I mean maybe I’m worrying prematurely. He only winked at me once, it’s not like I’m going to see him that often.”

Jess couldn’t help but smile. She already had a plan to get her roommate a love interest.

 

Aaron had gotten to his apartment after a rather short day of filming. He shared the apartment with Laurence because Scott still had a home in Toronto. He wandered into his room and jumped into his bed. The apartment building was nice, but the walls were incredibly thin. He overheard random snippets of the conversations going on in the rooms around him and wasn’t too concerned considering that it was still quieter than Los Angeles. He was letting his mind wander when he overheard what sounded to him like the sound of his make-up artist. He figured out that the voice was coming from the room he shared a wall with. Indulging himself in a bit of nosiness, he decided to try and figure out the topic of conversation. He was surprised to learn that not only his make-up artist but his mystery girl also stayed in the room next to his. He heard Jess laugh through the wall, and while he didn’t hear the entire conversation he did know that Jess knew about what Scott referred to as WinkGate.

He decided to stop listening in and went to talk to Laurence. While Laurence wasn’t nearly as intense and serious as the character he played, he was not necessarily as ridiculous as Scott. Aaron grabbed himself a drink and perched himself on a stool across from Laurence.

“It’s great to be back on set. I didn’t really think that the show was going to be renewed, but I guess Bryan is really tenacious.” Laurence laughed.

“Yeah, he met me for breakfast one day and just dropped Season four like a gift-wrapped present.”

“It’s really nice to be back on set. I never knew I’d actually miss Scott saying all the dumb shit he says in between takes. Those poor extras.”

Aaron laughed fully aware of Scott’s unique brand of insanity. “Yeah, it’s a wonder the extras don’t complain about him”

“Alright, so I’m not going to name my sources, but apparently, you’ve been flirting with one of Janice’s crew members?” Laurence inquired with raised eyebrows.

Aaron coughed down his drink awkwardly, “I can only imagine that your source is Scott, and I wouldn’t consider a wink flirting necessarily.”

“I don’t know man, Scott says she was checking you out and that you didn’t really mind.”

“Well, not minding getting checked out and flirting are different things”

Laurence interrupted Aaron, “It’s flirting if you wink at her to make her blush.”

The tips of Aaron’s ears had started to redden, “I have no control over her blushing.”

“Yeah ok, but if Janice murders you for distracting one of her team members, I hope that the guy that played Little Finger in Game of Thrones replaces you.

Aaron didn’t mind that Laurence and the cast and crew knew about WinkGate, but he did wonder as to whether or not he should pursue further flirting with his mystery girl. He now knew that Jess was close to his mystery girl, so that could be a source of information. He didn’t want to upset Janice in any way or get the girl in trouble. She looked young and didn’t have the intimidating look that some of the other chefs had, so he didn’t want to risk messing up her career. He could have sworn that he saw that the girl was working with Janice, so there was the chance that Janice already knows. He’d just have to talk to Scott about it tomorrow. He seemed to know about everything going on.  

 

Izzy and Jess stumbled out of their room at an ungodly hour in order to get ready for the day. Jess had to mentally and physically prepare herself for a day of chasing cast around Canada considering that they wouldn’t be in the production lot for most of the day. They were going to be shooting on the lot later on in the evening, Bryan had muttered something about the sunset and Mads’ eyes.

Izzy knew that she had to make sure that the snacks and lunch for the cast and crew were easy to set up and take down considering that the kitchen had not been briefed on estimated filming times. She only had moderate estimates from Jess, which only served to stress her out more.

The two wandered onto the production lot which seemed almost mystical as the sun softly began to rise for the day. The set was empty aside from a few crew members dragging themselves from one end of the lot to the other. The two separated to their respected areas and began to prep for their long days.

Jess wandered into her make-up trailer and began throwing together supplies for the day. She thought back to the conversations she had with Izzy the night before. Izzy truly did have a crush on Aaron, which was actually pretty adorable. Jess couldn’t help but want to scheme a way to get the two at least talking.

Izzy was on the other side of the production lot throwing together ideas for the cast lunch with a handful of other chefs. There was not an official sous chef in the kitchen, but everyone seemed to work together pretty easily. On a show where filming happened sporadically and completely out of order, no one had prepared for a traveling lunch. The obvious answer was sandwiches, which was what was unanimously decided upon. Elaborate sauces and toppings were added to the menu because at the end of the day the chefs of Hannibal had to be as extra as the cannibal himself.

 

Aaron had woken up to the smell of Laurence brewing coffee in their shared kitchen and briefly wondered what his wall mates were up to. He stared up at the ceiling and began to contemplate what the day would be like for him. There was a lot to do, they, of course, had filming, but he also knew that Mads and Hugh were scheduled to arrive soon. His make-up artist, Jess, was apparently his wall neighbor and shared a room with his mystery chef. Would she try to set them up? Did he even want to be set up with anyone? Aaron’s thoughts were interrupted by his alarm beginning to siren next to him. He had to start getting ready for the day.

Aaron wandered into the shared common area to see Laurence already ready for his day leisurely drinking coffee. Aaron couldn’t help but feel a ping of jealousy. Maybe if he was a morning person waking up would be easier….

“Do you need a cup of coffee? You can’t be a Casanova looking half dead.” Laurence’s deep voice had shaken him out of his thoughts.

“I do want coffee, but because I’m not a morning person. I don’t think the romance you and Scott are trying to force will happen. Everyone’s too busy filming.”

“Don’t say that plenty of people get together on film sets. Something about late night filming makes people more receptive to romance.”

Aaron had to laugh, “Are you shipping, or whatever the fans call it?”

“Sure! Honestly, I don’t think it would be bad for you to make a new friend on set. I think you should at least get to know your fan. Maybe she’ll talk to you and the charm will wear off.”

A gentle buzz of their phones brought them back to reality before Aaron could respond to Laurence. Their carpool had arrived half an hour ago and Scott had texted them to hurry up. Aaron and Laurence hurried and met up with a notably bored Scott.

“Sorry, we’re late,” Aaron said to Scott as he sat next to him.

“If you were any later I was going to convince Bryan to make it the Jimmy Price spin offseason. No Hannibal, no Will, only Jimmy!”

Laurence laughed at Scott’s suggestion, “Would Crawford and Zeller make surprise appearances or is it solely Price?”

“If you guys show up on time then sure, what were you up to?”

Laurence chimed in before Aaron could make a case, “I was convincing Aaron to talk to the cause of Winkgate or whatever you called it.”

Scott nodded approvingly, “It’s a noble goal. Maybe you should though Aaron, it’s going to be a pretty hectic film schedule. I know I won’t tolerate you for much longer.”

Aaron rolled his eyes at Scott, “I’ll be just as friendly with her as I would be with anyone. I didn’t know you were so ready to just toss me, Scott.”

Laurence laughed to himself as the other two men bickered. He hoped Aaron would reach out, he couldn’t imagine being single during the brutal filming schedule. Bryan had assured him that Gina would be able to come back as a vision to help Crawford rediscover himself in the hunt.

 

The men arrived on set and were immediately sent to the make-up trailer. Aaron wandered over to Jess, who was sitting in the chair drinking coffee leisurely awaiting his arrival.

“Nice of you to show up. You’re so lucky you don’t have a ton of prosthetics or I would have freaked out about you being this late.” Jess had slightly scolded him. They were on a tight schedule and she already had a ton on her mind.

“I’m sorry Laurence,” he said the man’s name loudly and accusingly in his direction, “felt like gossiping this morning, so we missed the call for the carpool.”

“It’s fine, I’ll probably end up redoing this over and over again. I’m going to be traveling with you and the rest of the cast to do makeup touch-ups between takes. Although, you have to give me the tea, what does Laurence gossip about?”

“Me apparently” Aaron muttered a little sulkier than he had anticipated.

Jess laughed and called out to Laurence, “Is it about Winkgate?”

Laurence responded quickly, “Yes! We need closure!”

As the trailer laughed at Aaron’s expense, he couldn’t help but ask, “Does everyone know about this? How did this spread so fast?”

Jess smiled, “I can answer that for you. There were too many witnesses. Scott told some people, Janice told a few people. Izzy talked to me about it...”

Izzy, that was her name, Aaron thought to himself. Was it short for Isabella or was she one of those people with nicknames for names? He couldn’t help but be curious about her.

Jess had noticed that Aaron had spaced out for a moment. She took advantage of the lull in discussion to start working on color correcting and changing the subject to a mutual favorite basketball. Their debate got so heated that they didn’t notice Izzy slip into the trailer and begin asking cast and crew for their lunch order.

Izzy had just finished asking Scott and his make-up artist what they wanted for lunch when Jess and Aaron finally noticed her.

“Little Fox! What’s cooking good lucking?”, Jess playfully teased Izzy.

Izzy hadn’t noticed that Jess was working with a cast member.

“It’s sandwich day today, but we had to be extra as fuck with them so we made more suggestions than actual feasible food.” Izzy began to ramble off about different sandwiches while Jess just nodded supportively having decided on a plain ham sandwich three sandwiches ago.

Aaron took the time to look at Izzy out of the corner of the mirror. She had brown hair, wasn’t very tall and had very deep chocolate eyes that the lights in the trailer had accentuated. She was very pretty. Sooner than he would have hoped, she needed to take his order.

Jess had spun the chair around, startling him slightly as he came face to face with Izzy who had already started blushing.

Izzy stared for a moment before blinking away her nerves and beginning to stutter out, “Hey, what would you like for lunch? We’re doing sandwiches today. We have veggie, turkey, ham, mango chicken chutney salad, tuna salad, and a vegan Banh-mi.” She had never felt more embarrassed at taking an order until that very moment.

Aaron had heard Izzy ramble off the order and took the time to really look at her. She had a few freckles on her arms and surprisingly enough dimples.

Izzy began to blush harder when she realized that Aaron was looking at her and hadn’t answered immediately.

Quickly realizing the cause of her blushing, Aaron corrected himself, “Uh, wow those are some options. Can we do half and half? It’s weird but Mango Chicken Chutney sounds really interesting and it’s kind of fun to say. But I also want a back-up of a turkey sandwich just in case.”

“We can make that work. Don’t worry.” Izzy had responded a little to enthusiastically. She blushed even harder, thanked the trailer and headed back to the kitchen.

Jess looked smug at Aaron’s side. The attraction was mutual it seemed. Her smugness was short lived as she panicked and saw the tip of Aaron’s ears had turned red.

“Izzy’s my roommate and I’m guessing the cause of these red ears.”, Jess murmured to a very embarrassed Aaron.

“Yeah”, Aaron responded in a hushed tone so that the other cast and crew members wouldn’t hear.

“When we go back to the cornfields Izzy escaped from we were planning on throwing a big party. We were going to invite all the cast and crew, but I figure you’d appreciate a fair warning to get these ears in check.”

Aaron nodded slightly as Jess began to aggressively dab at his red ears.

Jess smiled to herself. It seemed that getting those two nerds together wouldn’t be as impossible as Izzy made it seem the previous night.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super sorry for the late update. I hope to update more frequently. Kudos and comments are always appreciated.


	3. Moving Right Along

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things start moving the way we want them with some cute stuff at the end.

Filming in Toronto had wrapped up neatly for the moment. The crew was driving down to a small town in southern Indiana to do some on location shooting. Will and Hannibal on the run from the FBI had apparently decided to move to the small town that had been desperately searching for new residents.

The crew had headed out a few days before the cast to prepare the set and to rest after the drive. Jess was originally excited to visit Izzy’s home state, but after hours on the road, her enthusiasm began to dwindle.

Jess stared out at the passing billboards, empty space, and the occasional farmland.

“Is there anything in this state besides strip clubs, sex stores, Jesus, and really sweaty looking attorneys?” Jess grumbled out

 Izzy smiled briefly at her bored friend, “Why do you think I left the state in the first place?”

Unsatisfied by the response, Jess pressed on, “Have you ever been to Spencer before?”

“Yeah, I have a friend that works with alcohol down there. A friend of my fathers is letting us borrow some land and supplies for the party.”

“What kind of supplies? How big of a party is this?”

“My dad’s friend was a boy scout leader and bought a huge plot of land with cabins and stuff that he doesn’t use anymore because his son grew up, so he’s letting me borrow it in exchange for a breakfast invitation the next morning. He was always a sucker for a good breakfast buffet. I’m getting some local wine and beer on discount from my friend’s winery. He figures good exposure is worth the discount.”

“Would you have gone this far if Aaron wasn’t so excited to go to this party?” Jess inquired in a less than subtle manner.

Izzy blushed furiously, “I can say that it’s definitely the reason I’m making breakfast the next morning, but I probably would have gone this far regardless. If there’s anything my family is known for its great parties.”

Jess side-eyed Izzy, “Are you going to put some moves on Aaron or are you going to do that super tasteful run and hide technique that you’ve been doing lately? Ooh, or are you going to feed him into loving you?”

Izzy looked down at her lap, “I think my duck and run technique has been working really well. I don’t think he really likes me or anything. I do genuinely like cooking for people I like, and even if he might not feel the same way about me, the man does deserve to eat.”

Jess scoffed, “You don’t think he likes you? I know you stick your head into oven often, but how much gas can you breathe in? On sandwich day all you did was wander in and ramble about bread and his ears were so red they would have been able to guide Santa’s sleigh.”

“I think he could probably do better. I’m just around for right now.”

“This low self-esteem bullshit has gotta pass. You’re a pretty good catch. You’re not quite my taste in woman, but you are pretty and have a top-notch education. You’re passionate about your job and encourage others to do what they love. Quit being stupid and putting yourself down.”

“It’s been a work in progress but I’m trying. I guess I’m also worried because I just haven’t dated in a while. My last relationship was a fluke and while it didn’t end horribly, I don’t know if I’m suitable for dating.”

Jess rolled her eyes, “So you and some scrub didn’t work out. I’m telling you that Aaron is at least interested. Live a little, get out of the fucking kitchen, and shoot your shot. The worst you can get is continuing your run and hide tactic. Cardio is never a bad thing Fox.”

It was Izzy’s turn to roll her eyes, “We’ll see how things progress after the rager you’ve encouraged me to throw.”

 

While the crew had gone on to put together the new set, the cast and production team was preparing to leave Toronto and head down to Indiana.

Aaron and Scott sat next to one another on the plane while Janice and Bryan sat in the row in front of them. Laurence and Raul were sitting in the row adjacent to them and had begun discussing even more terrible fates for Chilton.

Aaron sat in the window seat so Scott could take full advantage of the range of pestering the aisle seat allowed him.

Seizing the opportunity, Janice decided there was no better time to corner Aaron to get the answers to her pressing questions.

Janice turned to Bryan and spoke loudly enough for Aaron and Scott to hear, “So Bryan, I have a bone to pick with you about one of your actors laying his charm on one of my chefs.”

Janice quickly winked at Bryan who caught on and put on his best act, “I have heard absolutely nothing about this! Who’s been eyeing who? I don’t believe my actors put the charm on anyone! How do I know it’s not one of your chefs distracting my actors!”

Janice snickered at Bryan’s faux shock, “Well all I know is one of my chefs, has been avoiding talking to the cast because of it. This particular actor is on this plane right now and could probably comment on this whole situation.”

Bryan and Janice quickly sat up in their seats and turned to look at Aaron who had already been getting stared at by Scott.

Scott, who couldn’t resist continuing to stir the pot, “Yeah Aaron, who is this actor that keeps messing with Janice’s chef? I think he might have winked at her or something. I don’t know.”

Aaron shuffled in his seat, staring back at the nosy people in front of him, “I don’t even know what you’re all talking about. One day, I finished up a scene, Scott pointed out that a chef Janice was working with had been looking at me, so I winked at her. I can’t help that I occasionally get extra snacks during lunch because of it.”

“Oh, so you’re not going to tell them about how Jess had to put a ton of concealer on your ears because they turned super red after having half of a conversation with her, or how you always get extra dessert?”, Scott revealed, proud of the immediate reddening of Aaron’s ears.

Janice interrupted before Aaron could respond, “Is that where all my extra dessert is going? Kitchen crew strategically makes an extra batch of dessert because we’ve earned it. I noticed that there was always a bit missing but tacked it to a measurement error. It would explain why Izzy never takes her extra share.”

Scott quickly edged back into the conversation, “Aaron she must really like you. She sacrifices snacks for you, snackrifice if you will. I would never save you a cookie and I’m your work husband.”

Aaron laughed at Scott’s confession, finally being able to say something amongst his coworker’s chatter, “I do like your chef Janice, but things get difficult on the set. We are filming a show, she’s working too, and I don’t know, maybe I’m just a silly crush.”

Bryan laughed, it was his turn to interrupt now, “Aaron how selfless of you to put the show ahead of your love life, but you know I don’t care what happens on set as long as the show goes on. Why don’t you treat this chef the way you treat any other person you’re interested in dating or whatever? She’s weird enough to have landed a job working with Janice and has managed to stay.”

“There’s absolutely no way that I’m getting out of having you all involved in this is there?” Aaron asked, hoping some miracle would occur where he could no longer be under the looking glass.

Scott smiled at Aaron, “We’ve been friends for years since the original run of the Hannibal show, I haven’t seen you this genuinely happy or giddy to see anyone ever. Don’t think too much about this.”

Taken aback by Scott’s sincerity Aaron simply nodded. Maybe he had been psyching himself out about the whole situation. Everyone was nosy about what was going on, but it wasn’t anything more than a crush at this point. He hadn’t seen her in a while.

“Janice, why hasn’t Izzy been coming around asking for lunch orders anymore? Did I do something to offend her? I get quick glances from her and she scurries off?” Aaron asked tentatively hoping he hadn’t ruined anything.

“It’s a combination of things, Izzy is very confident in the kitchen, but might not be as confident around you yet. But also, she is very good at keeping me on track on Hannibal’s elaborate meals, so I have been having her around as more of a personal assistant within the last few weeks. Poor girl hasn’t really slept much probably.” Replied Janice leisurely.

Aaron was overjoyed to discover that he hadn’t ruined anything too soon. Everyone had settled down and were leisurely waiting for the plane to land.

 

The crew arrived safely in Spencer and had rebuilt the entire set. The kitchen crew had spent the day setting up appliances and unpacking cookware.

Izzy had been unboxing hand tools when Jess casually wandered into the kitchen stopping in front of Izzy looking incredibly smug.

“Did you get reassigned to Katharine Isabelle?” replied Izzy only half paying attention to her smug friend.

“I fucking wish. I’m still assigned to Aaron, which is fine because I get a front seat to this whole thing. Anyway, I’m not here just to pick on you, the drivers that were going to pick up the cast can’t do it anymore. Bryan sent a group email asking for volunteers and I volunteered us.” Jess said awaiting Izzy’s reaction.

“Why the hell would you volunteer me?” Izzy could feel her anxiety rising from the pit of her stomach.

“You’re the only one that knows this place and I haven’t seen you interact with Aaron in like two weeks. It’ll be fun and we didn’t drive at all on the way down here.”

Izzy rolled her eyes, “The drivers are sleeping right now, but you are right. We didn’t drive, but for volunteering me, you’re driving. We should leave early because I might as well get party errands done since we have to go up to the city anyway.”

“Oh, thank god. This corn and general emptiness are freaking me out. It’s too quiet. I get why you escaped this place.” Jess was only half joking.

“I’m from the city, you walnut. Let’s go, I have to secure location and booze for the party.”

 

After a successful afternoon of schmoozing and cashing in favors, Izzy and Jess headed towards the airport to pick up the cast.

“We’re only giving them 20 minutes from them telling us they hopped off the plane to get their baggage and meet us here. Isn’t that too little time? Won’t we get told to move?” Said Jess with anxiety lacing her words.

Izzy turned to her and scoffed, “The airport much like the whole state is kind of empty but straightforward.”

True to her word, Aaron, Scott, Bryan, Janice, Raul, and Laurence wandered out of the baggage area in a few minutes.

Jess jumped out of the van to greet everyone. Izzy got out to help with baggage while Jess excitedly asked everyone about their trip.

“How was the ride down from Toronto?”, asked Aaron startling Izzy out of her thoughts.

Smiling slightly Izzy replied, “It was great until Jess got caught trying to smuggle kinder eggs into the states.”

Aaron laughed and Jess quickly ushered everyone to get in the van while shooting daggers from her eyes at Izzy.

A very bored Scott broke the silence in the van, “How long is it until we get to the corn?”

Izzy slyly replied, “Honestly Scott, if we drive 15 minutes in any direction you’ll probably see some farmland. The set and everything is about an hour away.”

Scott couldn’t help but laugh at the dry humor and quizzed Izzy on party plans and breakfast.

Aaron had somehow ended up sandwiched between Scott and Raul who were both making sure that Izzy’s attention was always on their row of the van.

Eventually growing tired post flight and on the rather long car trip, Scott and Raul fell asleep, leaving Aaron alone with his thoughts. Izzy had fallen asleep shortly after she and Raul had finished an apparently hilarious conversation in Spanish. Jess didn’t mind, Izzy had stayed up with the drivers the whole ride down from Toronto while everyone else slept.

Jess broke the silence, “Izzy’s definitely asleep, she stops doing her weird nervous leg thing when she’s really asleep. So, are you two actually going to talk to one another or should I pull a high school stunt and lock you two in a closet.”

Aaron smiled, “I’d really like to. I’ve been thinking about it and I got basically interrogated on the plane and I want to know more about her. I realize I’ve been running on the mystery of infatuation all this time.”

“There’s a lot to know. She’s really great, but she does have a few quirks,” Jess paused and looked over at Izzy to make sure she was asleep, “such as, her anxiety which can be both endearing and annoying. She’s also got really weird self-esteem. She thinks she could be the greatest chef but thinks that you aren’t generally interested in her.” Jess was testing the waters. Izzy’s quirks weren’t a secret that anyone couldn’t figure out. Her anxiety and confidence were obvious to the people she lived with and to her coworkers.

Aaron took a moment to digest the information. He was tired and a bit hungry, but he couldn’t help but appreciate Jess’s honesty. Anxiety and self-esteem issues were all of California basically and nothing that he hadn’t dealt with before.

“I thought you were going to tell me something worse,” Aaron said jokingly hoping to lighten the mood, “honestly, those aren’t things that really worry me. I’ve dealt with worse for people I was much less interested in.”

“Good.” Said Jess satisfied with his answer, “Now I can reveal some of the cooler things about Izzy. She’s bilingual, which you know now, but she doesn’t mind translating Spanish jokes into English. I’m going to learn Spanish from comedy alone.”

Aaron listened intently as Jess rambled off about Izzy and her positive quirks.

 

They arrived at their accommodation late at night. They were in an enormous apartment complex that production had rented. Every floor was a separate apartment with 4 rooms to be shared and a common living space per floor. Bryan and the production team had elected to randomize the people that were housed together. Bryan was convinced that it would be good for everyone to bond.

After helping everyone unload, Jess and Izzy snagged their luggage and went to their assigned room, which they quickly realized was adjacent to Scott and Aaron because they heard Scott’s distinct laugh through the thin walls.

Izzy laughed at the situation, “I would really appreciate it if production would scope these places out and stop getting places with thin walls.”

After that statement Scott stopped laughing and started knocking against their shared wall, “Izzy this is my attempt at Morse code, knock back if that’s you.”  
Izzy laughed and responded with a knock.

Begging to be overheard, Scott turned to Aaron and loudly stated, “You should sleep there, maybe Izzy will here you sleep talking about her and you guys can finally have a full fucking conversation.”

Izzy blushed, thankful for the fact that the only witness was a smug, but tired Jess. Calling a silent cease-fire, Izzy decided to go to bed. She tried to convince herself that her bed choice had nothing to do with Scott’s interference.

 

At about 3 AM, a particularly rough bout of insomnia struck Izzy and rather than play on her phone until sleep took her, Izzy wandered out into the common area armed with her blanket, laptop and headphones. Aaron awoke easily to the sound of a door shutting and someone trying to, but ultimately failing to sit on the couch silently. Curiosity leaving him unable to sleep he wandered out to the living room where he saw Izzy wrapped up in a blanket looking up at him from her laptop.

“I’m sorry if I woke you up,” whispered Izzy looking genuinely worried and concerned for his sleep.

“Nah, I’ll be ok. What are you doing?” whispered back Aaron, his exhaustion making him bolder than usual as he went to sit closer to her than he normally would.

“I couldn’t sleep so I figured I’d watch some Brooklyn Nine-Nine until I fell asleep or something,” Izzy whispered while tentatively sharing her blanket with Aaron, who took it silently before pulling her closer. Izzy blushed slightly but fell into the half embrace.

Izzy put one earbud into Aaron's ear and the other into her own as the two had to stay close to hear the episode. Aaron put his head on Izzy’s shoulder and relaxed into her returned embrace. She ran her fingers through his hair and before they knew it, they were both asleep.

The next morning the couple woke up to the smell of coffee and the smug smiles of Jess and Scott.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really just here to support writing Scott as a supportive albeit annoying party to Aaron's love life. 
> 
>  
> 
> I'm so sorry I'll try to be better at updating. I hope you enjoy this! All mistakes are my own!
> 
> I only own my own characters, All the actors and stuff are their own people and this whole thing is a work of fiction.


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